25: Barrel - Part 4

In the first three comics of the series, the character explored the ocean in a barrel and then encountered a whirlpool, all with a reaction of innocent wonder. Here, the empty barrel floating adrift, plus the title text and a previous announcement by Randall that this would be the conclusion of barrel boy's story, imply that the character's encounter with the whirlpool brought him to some harm.

This is the fifth in a six-part series of comics whose parts were randomly published during the first several dozen strips. The series features a character that is not consistent with what would quickly become the xkcdstick figure style. The character was in the barrel in part 1-3.

After Randall released the full The Boy and his Barrel story on xkcd it has been clear that the original Ferret story should also be included as part of the barrel series.

The full series can be found here. But below they are listed in the order Randall has put them in his collection linked to above:

I cheated, and went back and lightened the gridlines in #2. It was just bothering me. I'll try not to do that much. But as I'm not destroying anyone's childhood, I don't feel like I'm really pulling a George Lucas.

Discussion

The title text suggests that something bad has happened, not simply that he is swimming elsewhere or that Randall is disappointed the boy is no longer floating in the barrel. Grahame (talk) 05:30, 18 October 2013 (UTC)Grahame

The title text suggests unhappiness at the knowledge that the boy is apparently no longer inside the barrel that has been preserving his life so far. We can speculate that something bad has happened, but a sad smiley does not do that for us. 108.162.219.58 01:12, 1 February 2014 (UTC)

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